[Open] Science Sunday – 20.12.09

Great things to share this Sunday thanks to the magic of the internet and open access….

The good

There are some good news around Open Access:

First, last week Nat Torkington alerted me of this link. The first paragraph of the summary states

“With this notice, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) within the Executive Office of the President, requests input from the community regarding enhancing public access to archived publications resulting from research funded by Federal science and technology agencies.”

There is a post by Martin Fenner describing a talk on Open Access he gave at his University. I especially liked this extract:

“Reuse of a figure or table in an academic seminar usually falls under fair use, but many journals still require a (free) permission.And using the same figure in a medical conference can cost several hundred dollars, and it doesn’t really matter that you are one of the authors of the paper”

I did not know that use of my own figures at a conference did not fall under fair use. It’s just not right.

But this is even worse:

Who could oppose non-profit blind/disabled groups helping disabled people get access to written work?

Cornell University Library partners with the Internet archive (heard through Open Access News). Absolutely priceless gems can be found here! There is nothing like dusting off the cobwebs of some old journal issues and reading the scientific discoveries as they were described originally by the scientists themselves. Cornell University has made this a lot easier.

OK, granted, I didn’t get this tweet from @sciencebase this week, but it is really so worth it! So, if you are not up to becoming a citizen scientist you might still be up for some quirky science party tricks. (If you like this video, there is more at Richard Wiseman’s Blog)